1. Field of the Invention
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a repeating apparatus and method in a wireless communication system; and, more particularly, to an apparatus and method for determining output based on signals inputted/outputted to a repeater in a wireless communication system.
2. Description of Related Art
A repeater refers to a device for transmitting RF signals from a base station to a remote region in various methods so that the RF signals are regenerated. Base station antennas are installed at the local cell center only, and radio waves from the base station cannot reach some areas (dead zones). The repeater is basically configured to amplify radio waves from the base station and retransmit them to dead zones. Therefore, although the base station is in charge of basic signal processing, the repeater also has a large influence on communication quality because of its role of covering dead zones.
Repeaters include optical repeaters for supporting optical fiber, which is widely used for higher data speed recently, microwave repeaters for transmission in microwave frequency bands, ultra-small repeaters for covering small dead zones, indoor repeaters for supporting indoor home networks, etc.
However, conventional repeaters are simply configured to amplify and retransmit signals, making unnecessary power consumption unavoidable. Furthermore, conventional repeaters have no information regarding the signal-to-noise ratio, which is needed by mobile stations to receive a specific service, and thus have to maintain a power level higher than is necessary to provide the service, which is inefficient. Therefore, there is a need for a standard for signal detection by repeaters and a method for reducing unnecessary power consumption by accurately estimating the signal-to-noise ratio based on information exchange between mobile stations and base stations.